# What skills do you need for Ruby On Rails? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 21, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076 "2008-06-21T18:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jmDesktop)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076/1 "2008-06-21T18:26:36Z")
Hi, I know that may have an obvious answer, but as far as running rails is concerned, what skillset would an experienced web application developer need to start using RoR? This assumes I understand OOP/D and MVC design patterns. I have used [asp.net](http://asp.net) and j2ee (and python django). My guess is just Ruby and that you can configure your server (tomcat, iis, etc.) to use the rails framework. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jmDesktop)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076/2 "2008-06-21T22:20:40Z")
When you say running, if you’re referring to deploying and maintaining apps, this is a bit of a point of contention at the moment within the RoR community. If you want to deploy within a Java-centric environment, check out JRuby and warbler ([http://jruby.codehaus.org/](http://jruby.codehaus.org/), [http://caldersphere.rubyforge.org/warbler/](http://caldersphere.rubyforge.org/warbler/)). m0wfo ---
**Author:** ![jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jmDesktop)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076/3 "2008-06-23T16:01:39Z")
It’ll be rails in websphere. I believe it will be using java and rails. ---
**Author:** ![jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jmDesktop)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076/4 "2008-06-22T18:06:27Z")
You need to learn Ruby, obviously, but you also need to learn the Rails framework, which for many people is actually the bigger undertaking. You should be able to quickly pick up the bits of Ruby you need, if you have an OOP background, but it takes a while to become familiar with all the pieces of Rails and how to use them effectively. You’ll also need to learn some of the Rails-specific deployment issues, if you’re going to be responsible for a production server. The screencasts at [www.LearningRails.com](http://www.LearningRails.com), of which I’m coauthor, may be a little novice-oriented for you but will get you started. Michael S. [www.BuildingWebApps.com](http://www.BuildingWebApps.com) ---
**Author:** ![jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@jmDesktop](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jmDesktop)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-skills-do-you-need-for-ruby-on-rails/141076/5 "2008-06-23T16:19:17Z")
Sorry I didn’t say this in my other response, but if I am going to be doing this in websphere in a java centric world. Would it do me any good to simply learn the first part, RoR? I’m sure that once ror is installed on websphere it the rest of j2ee will be available. But my thinking is that before my project starts I can at least be familiar enough with “regular” rails to use it when it is installed on websphere. The ror framework would change enough that it’d be a different product just because it’s on the j2ee platform would it? Maybe just regular ror install for now would suffice? Thanks.